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Kiss and Tell

The other night as I was putting Kate to bed, we for some reason started talking about kissing.

“Kissing is gross,” she told me.

“No it’s not. I kiss you, that’s not gross,” I said as I kissed her cheek. “I kiss Sammy, and that’s not gross either.”

“You kiss me and Sammy like this,” she said. (I made her recreate this for me, you know, for the sake of the blog.)
Zi6_0073

“And you kiss Daddy like this,” she said as she wiggled her head wildly.
Zi6_0075

“Kathryn Elizabeth, you have never seen that!” I said indignantly.

Instantly a triumphant look came across her face as she exclaimed “SO YOU DO!”

“I, uh, I didn’t say that!” I fumbled.

“Well, do you or don’t you?” she asked.

I had no choice. I had to change the subject. “So let’s talk about what you want for Christmas…”

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And so it begins.

Kate’s been in kindergarten all of, I don’t know, three weeks, and already she’s met them.

The mean girls.

Before school today, my grandma put pigtails in Kate’s hair and tied ribbons around them. I didn’t see her, as I was already at work, but I’m sure she looked freaking adorable.

However, apparently some of the other girls didn’t think a random Monday called for ribbons, and made fun of Kate for wearing them when it was not picture day (as though she should have known that rule that they invented THREE SECONDS BEFORE).

I know – I really do – that this is extremely minor. I know that her feelings were hurt and she’ll get over it and then her feelings will get hurt all over again. And again, and again. I also know that there will be times when she’ll hurt the feelings of another little girl. That’s how life is. I get it.

But seriously? They’re five. They’re five and their already picking on each other for something as benign as a hair bow.

Which begs the question, what else – who else – are they making fun of? And how do I make sure it’s not Kate on either side of that equation?

Andy and I did our best to make this a teachable moment and talk to her about what being a friend means and blah blah blah… but none of it erases the hurt she felt today and that makes me so sad.

What I am dying to know, and what I haven’t asked, is this – will she wear the ribbons again tomorrow?

I really, really hope she will.

******
Update: She wanted a ribbon this morning. That makes me SO PROUD.

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Commence Freaking Out in 5…4…3…2…

You’ll have to excuse me and Jenny for the next few days if we seem even crazier than normal (are you scared yet?), because next week…

Our babies start kindergarten.

I’m not sure how it happened, because really it was not very long ago that they looked like this:
kate and joshua babies

They’ve grown so much since then, and even though Jenny and I (ok, mostly Jenny) are bound to be a nostalgic, weepy mess in the coming days, we are both so, so proud of these two kids. We are so thankful that we’ve had the opportunity to watch them learn and grow in the last five and a half years.

And we are absolutely confident that they are ready for the next step of their journey.

katejoshua

Those two? They will do great.

The two of us? That remains to be seen.

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